Using the Schema and Subschema Compilers › Coding DDL Schema and Subschema Statements › Compiler Comments

Compiler Comments

You can use the following symbols to begin a comment:

CA IDMS/DB treats all remaining text on the input line as a comment.

Significance of *

An asterisk as the first nonblank character of the input line identifies the line as a compiler comment: lines beginning with an asterisk are ignored by the compiler.

Significance of *+

The combination of the asterisk and the plus sign in columns one and two of an input line identifies the line both as a comment line (because of the asterisk) and as a line not to be redisplayed.

Note: For more information about the compiler's ability to redisplay input, see the ECHO and LIST options in 11.5, “SET OPTIONS Statement".

Comment Lines in Messages and DISPLAY Output

The DDL compilers generate lines beginning with the *+ combination, as follows:

• Messages—All informational, warning, and error messages displayed by the compilers are preceded by *+.
• DISPLAY output—All output lines generated by a DISPLAY AS COMMENTS statement are preceded by *+. For DISPLAY AS SYNTAX, lines which contain information not directly associated with syntax statements are preceded by *+.

Example

In this example, the schema compiler ignores the WITHIN AREA clause when it processes the ADD RECORD statement:

ADD RECORD NAME IS EMPLOYEE
  LOCATION MODE IS CALC
    USING (ID-0415)
    DUPLICATES ARE NOT ALLOWED
  *+ WITHIN AREA EMP-DEMO-REGION .